By Aneeka Simonis
PEOPLE seeking to work with kids will face a far more rigorous recruitment and screening process as part of changes to stamp out the risk of institutional child abuse.
Existing paid and volunteer staff at schools, hospitals, churches, sporting groups and even bus companies will be made to comply with the sweeping changes due to be mandatorily enforced by January next year.
People who work with children in Cardinia Shire were briefed on the seven-point Child Safety Standards policy by representatives from the Commission for Children and Young People (CCYP) at an Anglicare event in Pakenham on Wednesday 12 October.
The standards seek to improve child safety culture in organisations by requiring they adopt a child safety policy, a code of conduct in dealing with minors, clarify staff expectations where child abuse is suspected, reduce or remove risk of abuse as well as empower children and their voices.
Some of the most significant changes relate to employment.
A Working With Children Check will no longer cut it for jobseekers looking to work with under 18s.
Prospective employees will be pre-screened before getting to the interview stage.
They will then be required to provide a police record, be subject to rigorous identity checks, undergo behavioural assessments and be quizzed on their motives for wanting to work with kids.
Employers will rely heavily on referee information, and are advised to enforce probationary periods to better determine the new employee’s suitability for working with children.
The changes are in line with recommendations handed down following the Inquiry into the Handling of Child Abuse by Religious and other Non-Government Organisations.
CCYP spokesperson Carina Donaldson said the inquiry found there was an “overreliance” on the Working with Children Check, and now all organisations would be made to be more accountable on who they employed and monitoring existing staff.
She said children had the right to feel safe and protected, and that workers needed to listen to them.
“They must be heard and taken seriously,” she said.
Adults who reasonably believe a child is being abused are obliged to report the information, or call triple-zero if a child is in immediate danger.
Ms Donaldson said children with disability or with a disconnected relationship from their parents were at a higher risk of abuse compared with others.
She said children left alone with staff, or those who were often in areas obscured by sight were also at higher risk.
Representatives from Cardinia Shire organisations with child involvement discussed the changes and ways they could better improve their child safety culture at the event on Wednesday.
Government-funded organisations were required to comply with the standards at the beginning of the year, while all others will be required to comply by January 2017.
The requirements do not apply to self-employed workers including tutors, coaches and counsellors.
